


If You Can Hold On

by praesaepe



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Post-Transformers: Lost Light 25
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 02:05:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18540088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/praesaepe/pseuds/praesaepe
Summary: Millions of years of war don't make recharge easy, especially not for Rodimus.





	If You Can Hold On

**Author's Note:**

> I literally only realized a couple of days ago how _well_ Nautica would fit with both Rodimus and Thunderclash, and I had to just throw this out here. I'm already planning a couple of other little things for this ship so if it interests you, keep an eye out!!! Shout out to [astrotheology](http://astrotheology.tumblr.com/%22) for encouraging me to write this in the middle of the night even though I had an exam the next day. I wuv u.
> 
> Title from "All These Things I've Done" by The Killers.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr at [praesaepe](http://praesaepe.tumblr.com/)!

He was standing on that balcony in the Acropolex again, watching Zeta Prime’s Omega Destructors tear through Nyon. The horrible red light of the vamparc ribbons reflected in his optics, and time seemed to move at half speed as he watched those he considered his people being slaughtered, their lifeforce nothing but fuel to Zeta. Slinger stood behind him, just like before, speaking, his words all too clear in Rodimus’s memory. 

“... But we prepared a contingency,” he said. Rodimus’s spark felt like it contracted in its chamber, and he opened his mouth, the same reply as before, torn unwillingly from his vocalizer as he watched this scene replay. The phase-charges he had personally wired a few cycles ago. “Better that our people die at our servos than be drained to serve Zeta’s war machine.”

The detonator was a heavy weight in his servo.

“Primus forgive me,” Rodimus whispered, and he pressed the button. The phase-charges tore the city apart, sending shockwaves that rippled towards him and hit him with such a wave of heat and force that he felt as though he were being turned to the same scrap that so many mechs below were, reduced to ash and char, and he was dying,  _ dying _ \- and then he woke up. He shot up, his spark pulsing wildly, and pulled his legs in before wrapping his arms around them. His shoulders shook as he buried his face in his knees. Behind him, there was a faint rustling as his berthmates were stirred from their recharge by the whirring of his fans.

“Rodimus?” Thunderclash’s voice sounded distant and static to his audials, but the servo that came to a rest on his right shoulder was solid - not enough to stop the shaking, but enough that he was able to slow his ex-vents some. There a quiet yawn to his left, and another servo, smaller, purple, settled on his arm. Both forms behind him moved closer, Nautica’s other servo brushing the back of his neck while Thunderclash’s took up position rubbing circles into his back.

“We’re here, Rodimus, it’s ok,” Nautica said softly. Her servo moved from his arm to wrap around his front so she could settle herself more closely against him and rest her helm on his shoulder. Rodimus loosened his hold on his legs to allow her easier access and leaned into the contact. Fluid began building up in his optics, and he raised a servo to wipe it away only for more to take its place. A sob got caught in his vocalizer, coming out half-choked, and Thunderclash moved closer, his servo leaving Rodimus’s back to pull the both of them in. They sat in silence for a few kliks until Rodimus’s shoulders stopped their shaking and no more tears wound their way down his face.

“I’m sorry for waking you both up,” he said, optics fixed firmly on the floor in front of him. He frowned when his words came out as a croak, despite the fact he had reset his vocalizer a few times before speaking. He felt Nautica’s mouth twist into a frown on his shoulder, and she pulled back enough to look at him.

“Roddy, it’s fine,” she said. She slid her servo back around his helm to cup his cheek and gently pull him over to look at her. She swiped her thumb over the ridge of his cheek, her optics soft. “We’re here.” Thunderclash leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of his helm. Rodimus glanced up, managing a weak smile for his conjunxes before his face fell flat again. After a moment of silence, warm in their embrace, he spoke.

“It was Nyon. Again,” he said, turning his head back towards the floor so that Nautica’s servo dropped. “Zeta’s Omega Destructors were destroying my city, and I had the detonator in my servo, and-” He cut out with another choked sob and felt Thunderclash’s arm tighten around them. They knew about Nyon. Every Cybertronian did, and Nautica had heard it from Rodimus himself one night after a few drinks. She had looked it up later, reading about Zeta Prime’s vamparc weapons and the innocent civilians he had been draining of their energon, and been suitably horrified.

“You made the right choice, Rodimus,” she said. “It was a hard decision you shouldn’t have had to make, but you made the right one.”

Rodimus felt more than saw Thunderclash nod. “You saved many, many mechs by preventing Zeta Prime from using your people,” he said softly. “You honor the lives lost with your everyday actions. You go out of your way to help those in need whenever you can. You have a good spark,” he reached down with his free servo to tilt Rodimus’s chin towards him, “and you are a good mech.” Rodimus let out an amused and disbelieving ex-vent, but unfurled himself so that his pedes nearly hung off the edge of the berth.

“The crew loves you for a reason,” Nautica added. “You make an effort with everyone. We didn’t agree to jump to another universe just for fun; we agreed because we trust your leadership implicitly and didn’t want to leave it behind. We would rather spend the rest of our lives on this ship, with you. Clash and I especially,” she said, smiling up at Thunderclash.

“You carry many heavy burdens, and we have no qualms about assisting you with them because we care for you dearly,” Thunderclash said. Rodimus’s lips quirked in a small smile and he finally rolled his optics at Thunderclash’s unusually cheesy phrasing, eliciting a smile from the big mech. Nautica snorted into her servo, and Rodimus’s smile widened ever so slightly.

“I’m pretty sure you don’t have any trouble with lifting things, big guy,” Nautica said, a slight, teasing drawl in her voice as she patted the almost comically large arm wrapped around both her and Rodimus.

“Which is why I’m so well-suited to the task!” Thunderclash replied, grinning. He pulled his arms back and flexed, a gesture he had picked up from some of Rodimus’s Earth movies, and  _ that  _ got Rodimus and Nautica giggling in earnest at the ridiculousness of it. Satisfied, he lowered them to the berth and leaned back to look at his conjunxes with a dopey expression. Rodimus rolled his optics again and elbowed him.

“Quit looking so sappy, Thunders,” he said.

“How can I not be sappy when I have the two most wonderful conjunxes imaginable? Rodimus, with your caring spark,” he lifted Rodimus’s servo and pressed a kiss to the back of it, “and Nautica, with your keen mind.” He leaned behind Rodimus to grab her servo and kiss it as well, and she laughed and rolled her optics, just as Rodimus had done. “Every solar cycle with the ones I love most in the universe is one well spent,” Thunderclash continued earnestly. He had never been one to hold back his affection, once it was accepted, something they had learned quite early on in their courtship, but sometimes the stark honesty of his confessions still took them by surprise. Rodimus’s optics welled up once again, this time with a shaky joy in them.

“You big, blundering idiot,” he mumbled, reaching up to grab Thunderclash by the side of his helm and pull him into a kiss. Thunderclash made a small noise of surprise, but quickly settled into it and cupped Rodimus’s cheek to kiss him back. After a few seconds, Rodimus pulled away and turned to Nautica, pulling her into a similar kiss. He pulled away and looked between them, wiping away the optic fluid. “I love you two,” he said softly. “Thank you.”

“We love you, too,” Nautica said, her servo coming to rest on top of his. She looked up at Thunderclash, who smiled, nodded, and leaned down to press a short kiss to her lips before they turned to kiss both of Rodimus’s cheeks in unison. Rodimus smiled, a slight flush coming to his cheeks, and then ruined the tender moment with a large yawn. Thunderclash chuckled, but he and Nautica quickly followed with yawns of their own. 

“I think we’re all about ready for some more recharge,” Rodimus said, somewhat sheepish. Nautica nodded, her optics already flickering sleepily, and the three of them scooted back up the massive berth to lie back down. Thunderclash took up position on the left, facing inward, while Nautica settled herself on the right, curled up against Rodimus’s back and spooning him as he pressed his helm against Thunderclash’s broad chest.

“Good night,” Nautica mumbled, recharge already taking her.

“Sleep well,” Thunderclash said, falling into recharge just as quickly. For a moment, Rodimus lay there, curled up between his conjunxes, his spark warm and full to bursting, before he fell into a deep, dreamless recharge.


End file.
